ASTR 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Sn 1987A, Space Shuttle Discovery, Lyman Spitzer
Document Summary
Space shuttle discovery carried hubble into orbit 25 years ago. Hard to image what astronomer was like before hubble. Scientists were skeptical of hubble since its origin in 1946 (proposal of it by lyman spitzer) Hubble experienced huge delays and was expensive ( billion 1990 dollars was spent by the time it launched 7 years overdue) Flaw in 2. 4 m primary mirror seen by images, took until december 1993 for installation of corrective optics. Seven ways it turned the tables in our knowledge of the universe. Until some 50 years ago, didn"t know solar system neighbours. 200-inch hale telescope produced blurry images, no better than a small amateur telescope. Hubble takes high resolution images of other solar system planets. Image of comet shoemaker-levy 9 slamming into jupiter"s atmosphere in 1994. Ultraviolet observations revealed auroras on jupiter and saturn, and breakup products of cometary molecules. Hubble discovered 2 uranus moons, one neptune moon, four pluto moons, and two distant kuiper.